The tension between Spain and America was on the
This event in U.S. history regarding the USS Maine was unfamiliar to me. I knew of the Spanish American War, but never
On the pitch black night of February 15th, 1898 the very elegant USS Maine was demolished by a sneakily placed mine left in the beautiful Havana Harbour. A lot of eyewitnesses have 100% confirmed that this was a crime done by the mischievous people of Spain! The massive explosion happened at 9:40pm. The Spanish have just brutally murdered two hundred sixty innocent men! These amazing people have never attempted anything that would go against the dirty people of Spain in their life!
destroyed the last Spanish fleet in Santiago Harbor, Cuba, on July 3, 1898. On July 17, the Spanish surrendered Cuba to the United States. Spain signed a truce, selling the Philippines to the U.S. for $20 million, which was invested in drainage projects in the Philippines. On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed to end the Spanish-American War. The U.S. took over Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines.
In the late 1800’s, Cuba was fighting for its independence and striving to break free from Spain’s control. On February 28, 1898, the U.S.S Maine mysteriously exploded, which was stationed on the coast of Cuba. This led to the U.S involvement in the Spanish-American War. There were many economic reasons why the U.S joined this war, however, there was nothing significant that would require their involvement. The U.S was already keeping a close eye on the battle between the other two nations; waiting for a reason to intervene.
The U.S. was justified in going to war with Spain. In 1898, the USS Maine exploded, killing more than half the crew. Most of Americans believed it was Spain’ fault. After this happened, people wanted revenge.
In 1898, we finally see the United States begin to enforce the rules they before stated in the Monroe doctrine and began exhibiting their hemispheric power. As Cuba struggled to gain independence from Spain eventually America stepped in to help them gain their freedom. On April 24th Spain declared war on the United States and on April 25th America declared war on Spain.7 This war lasted for less than a year and was a big win for the United States. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10th, 1898.
Opposition to Spanish - American War Following the explosion of the USS Maine in February 15, 1898, while many Americans favored going to war with Spain, some were adamantly against the notion. The few who were against the idea of going to war include President McKinley, a fraction of African Americans, and one significant group, “ The Anti- Imperialism League”. Immediately after the explosion of the USS Maine, President McKinley, who disliked the idea of going to war ordered an investigation of the explosion. Americans claimed that an external force caused the sinking of the ship and the death of 266 crew members while Spain claimed that the sinking was the result of an internal force.
The imperialistic mentality of the American government after the Civil War, led to some degree to the Spanish-American war that would render a great acquisition of land for the United States. However, imperialism would not be the sole factor that led to the war against Spain, but also the sympathy felt by the American government towards Cuba’s efforts in fighting for their independence; additionally, the United States would seek to protect its commercial interests (sugar) in the island. Therefore, after invoking the Spanish to secede from their brutal practices towards Cuban rebels and attain a peaceful end to the situation, the United States arbitrarily sent a navy ship, “The USS Maine” to monitor the area.
After the Mexican-American War came to a close, the United States still continued to run into many different types of conflicts. The new Western territory (California, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona) granted by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo caused many disagreements among the North and the South. Many people suspected that the new territory would become slave states which would mean the US would have more slave states than free states. Citizens of the North argued that if the Western territory were to become slave states, it would create an unbalance between slave states and free states. Government officials were debating about whether or not slavery should be extended into those states.
On February 15 of the year of 1898, a tragedy occurred, the Maine all of a sudden exploded while sailing through Havana harbor. Around 260 Americans were killed because of this explosion. President McKinley and mostly all Americans wanted to prevent war, they just wanted to have a peaceful relationship with Cubans. However, there were some incidents between U.S. and Spain early in 1898. The Americans believed that the more they destroyed Cuba’s mainland, the quicker Spanish would leave Cuba, and Cuba will be able to be free at last.
Both Spain and the United States were truly impacted by the war because the war happened unexpectedly. The Spanish-American War was not started by one event alone, but with the accumulation many events which caused the war to explode. It started with the event surrounding USS Maine, was a "second class" battleship built up for the U.S. Navy. Spain sent General “Butcher” Weyler to control the situation in Cuba, so America sent the navy battleship called
What was the cause of the Spanish-American War? It is said that there were republicans that wanted to go to war with Spain prior to the explosion of the U.S. warship USS Maine. Theodore Roosevelt hope for a war against Spain in hopes to expand American military presence and power over seas and to gain access to foreign sources. Being as influential as he was on foreign policy he may have help convince President McKinley to send the USS Maine to Cuba to protect American interest and 267 servicemen died when in exploded. Although the was no proof that Spain had anything to do with the explosion the American government use this incident to declare war.
War fever swept congress and by April 19, 1898, a joint resolution passed both houses of congress that authorized the president to use force to eject Spain from Cuba. On the April 25, congress declared that a state of war existed between the two countries. It was in the words of John Hay "A splendid little war.” Admiral Alfred Mahan had predicted that it would last short three months. As for the US navy, it was in superb shape due to a modernization program that began in the 1890’s.
Americans learned more about what happened during the Spanish American War through articles that exposed the violent tensions in Cuba. The Americans then felt the need that we should help Cuba against Spain. The Americans in power wanted to remain neutral, while the public wanted to go to war. The U.S. Maine was a battleship that was sent to Cuba to spy on them and understand the situation in person. While the ship was there, it mysteriously blew up, the blame was put on Spain for the explosion.
